October 30th 2022
Chapter 303
Our Hands to Teach
Parent night used to terrify her, as dramatic as it sounded. The idea of sitting up there, talking to all those parents all night, didn't seem like that big of a deal, and yet… It was a lot. By now though, after nearly a decade of teaching under her belt, Maya was so familiar with the whole process that it was less about being scared and a lot more about trying not to run out of gas before she got to the end of it. She'd worked that out pretty well by now, too.
She'd seen a lot of stress out of the kids earlier, but she couldn't imagine any of it was due to anything she might tell their parents and a lot more with another teacher, for another class where they might have been struggling. Maya's mission on this night then became about being a voice for her students. Talking to the art teacher might not have felt like something important for some of the parents, but she knew their children more than they'd often presume, and she generally felt that she had a good insight to share with all of them to some degree or another. In the end, it was all worth everyone's time.
Her evening was stacked just as her days were: seniors, sophomores, freshmen, and juniors, and even before she received any parents directly in her room, she had a video call scheduled with Luis Acevedo, back in Santa Fe, to discuss how his daughter Lupe was doing. It was one thing that he, like other XC parents, had sent his daughter out to Austin for the sake of Sullivan Stables' program, but her education was just as important, if not more so.
And the answer, as far as Maya could say, was that she was doing great. She was getting along just fine with Lara and her family, as Maya had been able to attest herself, with how her family and theirs were so connected. She was doing fantastic out at the ranch, and everyone was very glad that she'd applied and been selected. Where art class was concerned, she was applying herself, always. She may not have been at the top of the class, skill wise, but she made up for it in every way that she could.
The thing that Mr. Acevedo wanted to know the most was just how his daughter was doing. Maya could feel it in the way he spoke to her, and she imagined that he was trying to suss out these answers with every teacher he'd speak to. Before long, Maya got him to explain what this all was about, and to her it felt as though it explained so much, making her wish that they had been aware earlier. It was not unknown to them that Lupe's school back in Santa Fe had suffered a very destructive fire last year and had been shut down for extensive repairs, shuffling the students off to other schools in the area. What hadn't been known was that the fire had happened during a school day, and Lupe and her peers had all been there. One class in particular had become trapped in one of the rooms, unable to get out until the firefighters came and rescued them. They had come very close to not making it. Lupe had been one of them, and according to her father, she had suffered nightmares and deep anxieties following the incident. The entire reason she'd been allowed to go to Austin was because they felt that it might help her. Maya promised to keep this in mind going forward.
She had a surprise of a most pleasing order, as far as she was concerned, when she received for Nika Petrelis. Her parents weren't involved, naturally, so for the past three years and now this fourth and final one, her brother and guardian Theo had been meeting her teachers. Tonight, he'd brought someone along with him… Tori bolted over to her grandmother as soon as she saw her, and Maya lifted her into her arms at once. She would sit on her lap all through this meeting, and Maya was more than happy to keep an eye on her while Theo did the rounds. She could set her up with paper and paint, knowing she would quietly sit there and work, and so she would… after sitting with her grandmother a while for some cuddles.
It had always been known that, sooner or later, the entire England plan was going to have to come out and be shared with Theo, and now as he came to sit with her, Maya guessed that Nika had finally told her older brother what she had in mind for her post high school education. Art school, in England, just her. He was happy for her, truly, he was, and he wanted her to get there, but there was no hiding how he would regret her absence and miss her terribly. Once upon a time, the two of them had been all the other had that felt good, living back with their parents. Then they'd made this plan and followed through, moving out to Austin. It might have been that Theo would suddenly find himself lonely, separated from her, but he wouldn't be, would he? He had his little girl now, and he had Lea, and Ella was his friend again… His life here was as rich as it had ever been, so he knew, no matter what, that he would be okay. He wanted nothing more than for his baby sister to follow her dreams.
"New teaching assistant?" a man's voice asked, and Maya smirked as she turned to meet her next appointment. Hank Hillard stood in the door, and seeing a familiar face, Tori lifted her head to wave at the man who came over for a quick high five and a poke to the cheek that made the girl giggle before moving over to his nephew's wife, his daughter's teacher, and hugging her.
It still could feel like they'd been spun around and found themselves catapulted forward in time, thinking of how not too long ago – or so it felt – the Hillards had still lived in Houston and they hadn't relocated to Austin yet. Except it wasn't 'not too long ago,' was it? Seven years, this past summer. They were in their eighth year here now, in which time Maya had seen both Henry and now Maggie through all four years of high school. Maya still remembered them as small children, the first time she'd met them both, and now Maggie was on her way out already…
She hadn't exactly made waves, had she? She'd been here, and she'd been active, in the musical each year, in art class, and now in the senior trip planning, but so far as big drama or anything of the sort… nothing, really. Maya supposed that was kind of the ideal outcome. She never wished the drama on her students, but it still came for plenty of them. Maggie had been here, for three years and some dust, getting good grades, enjoying her adolescent years… Back in middle school, they'd affectionately referred to her as a benevolent queen bee, and this had continued into high school. She was popular, but she didn't have a mean bone in her body. Now that she was moving on, Maya knew, she was setting out to be the only one of her siblings to actually follow in their parents' footsteps in some shape or form, and Hank and Tanya could not be prouder. She'd been working with her mother at the animal shelter since sophomore year, and of all things it had been the one to really urge her choice onward. She was right on track now to make it happen.
If seeing Hank had elicited little more than a high five and a happy smile from Tori, seeing Michael Sullivan come along brought the five-year-old bolting from her seat, the better to hug the man. In no time, she was perched in his lap while he and Maya discussed Lara's senior year so far. If Lea had started to feel like a second mom to Tori since she'd been dating Theo, then her fathers had become like two more grandfathers to her, and the sentiment was wholly welcomed by both Michael and Keith.
Lara's time in high school generally read a lot like her best friend's. The two of them – 'cousins by association' as they would call themselves – had been working off identical schedules, with classes, with activities, all along. Of the two, without a doubt, Maggie was the better student, but Lara was no slouch by comparison. Her own goals, her dreams post high school, may not have been academically centered, but they were and had been a part of her since she was a little girl: she wanted to play soccer professionally, wanted to be in the Olympics, all of it. She had been passionate about the sport since she'd first discovered it and she had never looked back. All through high school, she'd had one goal in mind, quietly stoked. She wanted someone to come and find her, wanted to draw the eyes and the curiosity of schools that would want her. It wasn't even about the money – although that would certainly be a perk they would not set aside – only the means to her goal, set out ahead of her. From what Maya had been seeing and hearing, Lara might have been a lot closer to achieving that goal than she could have hoped. It was only a matter of time before they knew for certain.
The last of her senior parents turned out to be Laura Marshall. Seeing Jenny's mother come along, Maya's mind travelled back to a year ago, last fall's parent night. At the time, both Mr. and Mrs. Marshall were still dealing with watching their daughter go through the process of transitioning from male to female out in the world, seeing the troubles she had already encountered… Maya remembered a woman weighed down with concerns. She supported her daughter's journey, one hundred percent, but she couldn't pretend as though she wasn't afraid for what might happen to her. Already, by the time they'd met for parent night, Jenny had been forced down to the school basement and attacked by Ronnie and his cronies. Who was to say that this would be the worst of it and that something else wouldn't happen to Jenny?
Now, a whole year had gone by, and though they hadn't been incident free either in or out of school, there was something about entering a second year with Jenny fully out and proud that strengthened her and her family's resolve. They weren't under the assumption that they were suddenly in the clear, but they didn't let it get to them or dictate how they lived their lives either. And Jenny was in her senior year, looking into options for college, figuring out who she was and who she would become… She didn't have everything figured out, and a lot of things felt as though she was still having to make up for lost time, from the years she'd tried to convince herself she was the boy she'd been born as. But beyond all that, she was optimistic about what would come next because she would be done with high school, and so while she was figuring her life out, she would also have the freedom to make many more choices now that she might have had to wait to make until she was older if it had all happened at an earlier time. It was one good thing, and she would hold on to it.
Maya let out a breath as Mrs. Marshall went on her way and she shifted her papers, setting aside the seniors for the sophomores. After a few minutes to stop and relax, seeing what masterpiece Tori was working on, she'd be starting all over again.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
